Mark Rothko

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Vladimir Umanets declined to reveal where he lives. But he said he knew he would probably be arrested:

I believe that from everything bad there's always a good outcome so I'm prepared for that but obviously I don't want to spend a few months, even a few weeks, in jail. But I do strongly believe in what I am doing, I have dedicated my life to this.

Umanets is one of the founders of "Yellowism". He describes as "neither art, nor anti-art":

Yellowism is not art, and Yellowish isn't anti-art. It's an element of contemporary visual culture. It's not an artistic movement. It's not art, it's not reality, it's just Yellowism.

It can't be presented in a gallery of art, it can be presented only in a Yellowistic chambers. The main difference between Yellowism and art is that in art you have got freedom of interpretation, in Yellowism you don't have freedom of interpretation, everything is about Yellowism, that's it. I am a Yellowist.

I believe what I am doing and I want people to start talking about this. It was like a platform. I don't need to be famous, I don't want money, I don't want fame, I'm not seeking seeking attention. Maybe I would like to point people's attention on what it's all about, what is Yellowism, what is art?

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A man has admitted writing on a Mark Rothko work at the Tate Modern in London, but insists he is not a vandal. The writing on the bottom-right corner of the piece appears to read: "Vladimir Umanets, A Potential Piece of Yellowism."

Today, Mr Umanets, who is originally from Russia, claimed he had written on the painting, saying:

Some people think I'm crazy or a vandal, but my intention was not to destroy or decrease the value, or to go crazy. I am not a vandal."

A painting by Mark Rothko has been defaced at the Tate Modern art gallery.

Police were called after a small area of the mural piece was painted, a spokeswoman for the gallery said.

Tate can confirm that at 3.25pm this afternoon, there was an incident at Tate Modern in which a visitor defaced one of Rothko's Seagram murals by applying a small area of black paint with a brush to the painting. The police are currently investigating the incident.